Very Little to no acceleration

[daneibling]

About a week ago I resolved another issue with the generator by sanding the rotor with some sandpaper, also replaced the voltage regulator. Though a day before I did that work, the clutch peddle seemed to be a little more stiff than usual. It on ly happened twice that day, but it 'went away, figured maybe it was the carpet that got bunched up behind the clutch mahaps? That was wishful thinking I know, hence what brings me here today.

-I now have little to no acceleration. The car starts up beautifully, and in fact almost seems to be running quieter? (having kids I ALSO know that this can be a sign of no good).

-The shifter has always been a little shall we say 'loose'? But have never had an issue getting her into gear. That has also now changed, as I have to press, let go, and press the clutch again to get her into first gear. Also missed a shift into 2nd yesterday, which sounds like no big deal, but its been years since I've missed a shift in this car. (odd)

-On the whole, she SOUNDS like shes accelerating, but instead of going by sound @35-40mph, I'm still slowly creeping up to 25. Something slipping?

-I checked the distributor and the rotor had some light 'dirt', as well as the contacts along the inside perimeter of the cap itself.

-I had a new distributor installed about a year ago, and have had no reason to fiddle with it since, but when I tried to pull off the rotor to get a better look at the points, that rotor simply doesn't come off? super annoying. BUt upon looking as best as I could at the points, theres an itty bitty white spot on both sides of the points. Not being able to get the rotor off, I was unable to get to measure the gap there.

-I have as of yet to find wither of my two sets of spark plug sockets,...probably somewhere safe, thus have not checked my plugs yet.
Seeing as how the engine isn't missing, or sounding like it, this is just more wishful thinking on my part I'm sure.

-MY spidey senses are telling me this is out of my wheel house, I'm planing on making some calls today to some local shops to have someone with the tools on hand to take a look, but was hoping that you all could through some suggestions my way, so I could do some research and at least have a ball park idea of what I'm walking into?

Id supply pictures, but at this point I don't even know what to take a picture of?

Does the generator light from last week, and this have anything to do in common with each other, aside from being connected in the middle by the same rusty bolts?


Thanks everyone.
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'73 Squareback

[KTPhil]

Sounds like a broken/slipping clutch.
Engine comes out to investigate.

[Erik G]

old clutch and it's slipping?

Drive in 3rd or 4th gear and, with your foot still on the accelerator, push the clutch in and rpm's zoom. let off the clutch, should immediately come down in RPM. If the RPMs do not come down when you release, your disc is slipping
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Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[.65vw]

If you confirm that your clutch is not slipping then from what you describe it sounds like you need to do a general tune up.

A distributor that was installed over a year ago may still be good but all the contacts may need a light sanding to clean things up (in the dist cap and the points too).
Look around where you live, mold grows on everything here (it sucks) and its usually damp.

My Bug was put away over a year ago with a fresh tune up/oil and all the prep you do for storage.
But when I drove it a few months ago it had the same symptoms you describe and still does until I bring it home to go over everything after it sat for a year.

For sure give your points and dist cap contacts a light sanding and clean up, check/clean your spark plugs, check/adjust your valves, and check/set your timing and you should get some power back.